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ATLAS IRON: GINA RINEHART INTO ATLAS IRON FRAY TAKING 19.6%

Perth, Jun 12

Iron ore major and Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart is not talking about her flagged 19.6% stake in struggling Western Australia iron ore junior Atlas Iron.A spokesperson for Ms Rinehart’s private company Hancock Prospecting says the company won’t comment on the speculation, but media sources are expecting a substantial shareholder notice will be lodged with the ASX soon.Last week, fellow iron ore mogul Andrew Forrest’s world No-4 iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group emerged with a 19.9% stake in Atlas and its Pilibara operations for $A55.7M, saying it wouldn’t back the current, mutually agreed $A300M one-for-571 share takeover bid from another Aussie, Mineral Resources. Then MinRes released Atlas from the “no-shop, no-talk, no-due diligence” clauses in the takeover agreement between the two, opening the door to Ms Rinehart.Meanwhile, Atlas’ share price has moved up to $0.04.2cps from MRL’s $0.03.2cps offer and FMG’s $0.04cps buy in.